The shipment of goods is a complex and costly process with many actors, including shippers, manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers. Currently, goods are placed in containers of various lengths, e.g., 20′, 40′, 45′, 48,′ and 53′, for transport. The containers may be transported via a ship to a shipyard or via a train to a rail yard. From the shipyard or rail yard, the containers may then be transferred to a chassis of a tractor trailer for further shipment or distribution. Different sized chassis are available to accommodate the different sized containers.
The transfer of a container onto a chassis is presently cumbersome and time consuming. The transfer of the container requires an operator of a crane or side loader or other personnel to be present when the tractor trailer with an empty chassis arrives. If the crane operator or the driver of the tractor trailer is delayed, the driver of the tractor trailer will have to wait until the crane operator is available to load the container onto the chassis. Once the container is loaded onto the chassis, the container is transported to its next location by the tractor trailer. The next destination may be another ship yard or rail yard, a distribution center, or it may be a warehouse or retail store where the goods in the container are unloaded. In any case, the container will eventually be removed from the chassis. Again, as with loading the container onto the chassis, removing the chassis is also cumbersome and time consuming requiring both the presence of the crane operator or dock personnel and the driver of the tractor trailer.
Several systems attempt to solve the inefficiencies noted above. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,231,065 (Peach et al.) discloses a method and apparatus for controlling cameras and performing Optical Character Recognition of a container code and chassis code that processes containers and chassis into and out of a facility. A camera is used to determine when a truck is present within a specific gate lane in the facility. The camera is also used to determine if the truck is a Bob-tail (i.e., the tractor trailer is without a chassis or container); a bare chassis or a chassis having a container. In the latter case, the camera takes various images to determine the container's size. The container's size, along with other information, is then used to process the trucks into or out of the facility. However, the method and apparatus disclosed in Peach et al. do not provide an automated way to remove the container from the chassis or place a container onto the chassis, nor is a signaling system provided to assist the driver in positioning the chassis into the gate lane. Further, the system uses cameras to determine the size of the container, which can be costly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,658 (McMorran et al.) discloses a container chassis positioning system. In this system, a light signal and camera are used to assist a driver to position the chassis at a preprogrammed stop point in a loading or unloading lane. This system, however, requires the use of a crane to unload or load a container on the chassis. Thus, a driver must still wait until a crane is free before he can drive the tractor trailer to the next location. Further, a camera is required for the positioning of the chassis, which can be expensive.
U.S. Publication No. 2008/0219827 (Lanigan et al.) discloses an inline terminal system. The system includes a buffer that includes four side latch cylinders that engage the bottom corner castings of a container. The buffer can be used to unload a container from a chassis without the assistance of a crane. However, the system does not provide a buffer that can be used with different sized containers, nor is a light signal provided that assists a driver position a chassis or container at a proper stopping position within the buffer.
U.S. Publication 2008/0219827 (Lanigan, Sr. et al.) discloses a distribution system that includes a buffer. The buffer includes movable shelves having a retracted and extended position. The system also has a chassis having a support structure that can be raised or lowered using a lift control. The support structure is used to raise a container resting on the support structure so that the container can be transferred to the buffer after the chassis and container have been positioned in the buffer. Further, the buffer includes at least one wheel guide to aid in aligning the chassis in the buffer. Although this system allows a driver to load or unload a container without the assistance of crane, it requires a chassis that is specially fitted with an elevating structure to raise and/or lower the container. Therefore, the system cannot be used with a standard chassis.
For these reasons, a system that can economically load and unload varying sized containers from a standard chassis without requiring the use of crane would be an important improvement in the art.